Movie News Wrap Up: November 25th, 2011

Amber Heard and Dominic Cooper travel to Motor City; Branagh, Hopkins and Dench look for Italian Shoes; Julie Delpy decides to make The Right Profile of Joe Strummer; Michael Apted replaces Curtis Hansen in Of Men and Mavericks and Ewan McGregor makes Corrections.

1. Amber Heard will play the lead in Motor City, the latest thriller from producer Joel Silver’s Dark Castle production shingle.

Heard will star opposite Dominic Cooper who “plays a man released from prison who goes on a revenge mission, hunting down the people who framed him.”

2. Thor director Kenneth Branagh has lined up Anthony Hopkins and Judi Dench as the stars of his next film – Italian Shoes.

According to Variety:

“It’s the story of a retired surgeon living on a remote island in Sweden, who is forced to confront his past mistakes when he’s reunited with an old flame. “

The film, which is scripted by Richard Cottan (based on Swedish author Henning Mankell’s novel) is set to start shooting in the end of 2012 or in 2013 – depending on the schedules of its Oscar winning stars.

Sounds like a low key, actorly affair, and one that is sure to be an awards favorite. Branagh’s career has had something of a resurgence in recent years with his acting work in Wallander and My Week With Marilyn, coupled with his directing work in the aforementioned Marvel movie. Branagh is also set to direct The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

Source: Variety

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3. Actress (and director) Julie Delpy is set to direct a biopic of Joe Strummer – the late, great front man of British punk band The Clash.

The Right Profile (taken from a track on London Calling) is set to “focus on Strummer’s life and his planned disappearance from the public spotlight in 1982.”

There’s a lot of mileage to be gained from Strummer’s music and politics, and The Right Profile has the potential to be a great music biopic, however casting is the key here.

Can producers get someone who can act, sing and fill Strummer’s shoes? They could possibly get someone who can act and sing, but filling the big man’s shoes is going to be impossible!

Source: Variety

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4. Michael Apted (The World is Not Enough) is set to carry-out the final fifteen days of shooting on Of Men and Mavericks (formally Mavericks) for Walden Media.

Apted will replace director Curtis Hansen, who has had to leave the project due to “complications from a recent heart surgery.”

Gerard Butler stars in the film which sees real-life surfer Jay Moriarity (Jonny Weston) as he attempts to ride the treacherous North Californian waves – the Mavericks.

5. Everyone’s favorite Jedi Knight – Ewan McGregor is feeling the force pull of television. The Scottish actor has signed on for a role in the HBO pilot The Corrections.

McGregor will join Chris Cooper and Dianne Wiest in the potential series, which is based on the book by Jonathan Franzen’s

According to Deadline:

“The Corrections revolves around the troubles of a Midwestern couple (Cooper and Wiest), and their three adult children as they trace their lives from the mid-20th century to “one last Christmas” together near the turn of the millennium. McGregor will play Chip, the middle child, a Marxist academic who lost his tenure-track position over an affair with a student and now works for a Lithuanian crime boss defrauding American investors.”

Noah Baumbach will direct the pilot, which he co-wrote with Franzen, the duo will also produce alongside Scott Rudin.